Apple gets patent for ad skipping technology

Apple was granted a new US Patent yesterday for technology that would allows iPhone/iPad/iPod users to 'skip' unwanted content such as adverts during radio broadcasts.

Using the potential tech described in the patent, a device would allow users listening to content from a radio station or “non-radio media or content sources” to skip past the sections they aren’t interested in, filling the gap with local, on-board media instead.

It will work out what listeners like and don’t like by creating a user profile, monitor a stream or broadcast and switch back at an appropriate time. But it could be years before such a service is put into practice.

iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices do not currently offer broadcast radio although it could be part of the upcoming New iPhone, rumoured to be released next month.